2000
#4,422
National surname rank
Recorded bearers 7,420
First available Census row
Per 100,000 2.75
Rare Last name
Halsey
An English habitational surname derived from a place name meaning "Hal's island" or "nook of land."
According to the 2020 US Census Bureau surname tables, roughly 8,422 Americans carry the last name Halsey. That puts it at #4,684 in the national surname ranking, appearing at a frequency of 2.46 per 100,000 people (about 1 in 40,697 residents).
This page is the full Name Census profile for the Halsey surname. You will find the Census Bureau frequency data, a multi-census history view, an ancestry and ethnicity breakdown based on self-reported demographics, the name's meaning and origin where available, and answers to the most common questions people ask about this surname.
For British records, Name Census UK has a British surname profile for Halsey with 1881 census detail, origin facts and modern UK distribution where available.
Bearers in the US
8.4K
1 in 40,697
Census rank
#4,684
2020 decennial data
Per 100,000
2.5
Frequency rate
Recorded bearers
7.3K
rare in the US
Popularity narrative
The Census Bureau recorded 7,344 bearers of the surname Halsey in its 2020 decennial surname file. At a rate of 2.46 per 100,000 residents, it holds the 4684th position in the national surname ranking.
Among Census respondents with the surname Halsey, the largest self-reported group is White at 82.0%. The next largest groups are Black (11.1%) and Hispanic (2.8%).
Origin
Meaning and origin of Halsey
The surname Halsey is of English origin, deriving from a habitation name referring to someone from the village of Halsey in Essex. This place name is believed to come from the Old English words 'halh' meaning 'nook' or 'hollow' and 'ieg' meaning 'island' or 'dry ground in a marsh'.
The earliest recorded spelling of the surname dates back to the Domesday Book of 1086 where it appears as 'Halsige'. Other early spellings include Halseye in 1275 and Halsey in 1327. These variations reflect the evolution of the name's pronunciation and spelling over time.
One of the earliest known bearers of the name was Sir Hugh Halsey, a knight who lived in the 13th century and held lands in Essex. In the 14th century, records show a John Halsey who was a merchant in London.
The Halsey family established itself as a prominent landowning family in Hertfordshire during the 16th and 17th centuries. Notable members include Thomas Halsey (1528-1591), who served as a Member of Parliament, and his son James Halsey (1559-1612), who was also an MP and a Justice of the Peace.
Another prominent figure was Sir Thomas Halsey (1615-1679), an English politician and landowner who served as a Member of Parliament for Hertfordshire. He was a supporter of the Parliamentarian cause during the English Civil War.
In the 18th century, Robert Halsey (1703-1769) was a successful merchant and shipowner in New York City. He was instrumental in the establishment of the city's maritime trade with the West Indies.
The name Halsey has also been associated with several notable individuals in more recent history, such as the American poet and writer Robert Lowell Halsey (1855-1920) and the singer-songwriter Ashley Frangipane, better known by her stage name Halsey (born 1994).
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Halsey
Among Census respondents with the surname Halsey, the largest self-reported group is White at 82.0%. The next largest groups are Black (11.1%) and Hispanic (2.8%).
The bar chart below shows how Halsey bearers described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given surname, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown for every Census year so the breakdown stays comparable over time. When the source file also includes raw headcounts, Name Census shows those alongside the percentages in the legend.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A person's surname does not determine their race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the Halsey surname at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White82.0% · 6,019
- Black or African American11.1% · 817
- Hispanic or Latino2.8% · 205
- Two or more races2.8% · 202
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.7% · 54
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.6% · 47
Timeline
Historical Census data for Halsey
Halsey appears in 3 published Census surname files: 2000, 2010, 2020. The cards below show how the name's rank and bearer count changed across each release.
2010
#4,654
National surname rank
Recorded bearers 7,619
+199 bearers (+2.7%)
Per 100,000 2.58
Rank movement Down 232 places
2020
#4,684
National surname rank
Recorded bearers 7,344
-275 bearers (-3.6%)
Per 100,000 2.46
Rank movement Down 30 places
| Year | Rank | Count | Per 100K | Count change | Rank change |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2000 | #4,422 | 7,420 | 2.75 | First available Census row | First available Census row |
| 2010 | #4,654 | 7,619 | 2.58 | +199 bearers (+2.7%) | Down 232 places |
| 2020 | #4,684 | 7,344 | 2.46 | -275 bearers (-3.6%) | Down 30 places |
For 2020, the Census Bureau published race and Hispanic-origin columns as counts rather than percentages. Name Census converts those counts back into shares so the ancestry section stays comparable with the older surname files.
Year on year
2010 vs 2020 Census
How has the Halsey surname changed between Census years? The chart shows bearer count side by side, and the table compares rank, count, and frequency.
Census year comparison
20102020
| Metric | 2010 | 2020 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rank | #4,654 | #4,684 | -0.6% |
| Count | 7,619 | 7,344 | -3.6% |
| Per 100K | 2.58 | 2.46 | -4.8% |
Between the 2010 and 2020 Census, the number of Halsey bearers went from 7,619 to 7,344 (-3.6% change). The surname moved down 30 positions in the national ranking, going from #4,654 to #4,684.
FAQ
Halsey surname: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. have the surname Halsey?
Name Census estimates that about 8,422 living Americans carry the surname Halsey. Using the current population baseline, that works out to roughly 1 in 40,697 residents.
How common is Halsey?
Halsey ranks #4,684 in the 2020 Census surname tables and is classified on this site as "Rare." The Census recorded the name at a frequency of 2.46 per 100,000 residents, which is about 2 people out of every 100,000.
How many people with this surname were counted in the Census?
The raw 2020 Census file counted 7,344 people with the surname Halsey. That is different from the site's living-bearer estimate (8,422), which projects the surname's present-day count by applying the Census frequency rate to the current U.S. population.
What does 2.46 per 100,000 actually mean?
It is the Census Bureau's normalized frequency measure. A rate of 2.46 per 100,000 means that if you picked a random group of 100,000 U.S. residents, you would expect about 2 of them to have the surname Halsey.
Has Halsey become more or less common over time?
Between 2010 and 2020, the surname Halsey went from 7,619 recorded bearers to 7,344. That is a decrease of 275 (-3.6%). In the national ranking it fell from #4,654 to #4,684.
What does the Census say about the background of Halsey?
Among Census respondents with the surname Halsey, the largest self-reported group is White at 82.0%. The next largest groups are Black (11.1%) and Hispanic (2.8%). These figures come from the 2020 Census Bureau surname tables, based on how respondents described their own race and ethnicity.
Which group reports this surname most often?
White is the largest self-reported group for the surname Halsey in the 2020 Census, accounting for 82.0% (6,019 people in the source table).
What is the full ancestry breakdown?
Halsey appears across multiple self-reported groups in the Census data. The largest shares in the 2020 file are White (82.0%), Black (11.1%), Hispanic (2.8%). For 2020, the source file also published raw headcounts for each group, which is why this page can show both percentages and counts in the ancestry section.
Is this page using the latest Census data?
Yes. This page is using the latest surname file currently loaded on Name Census, which is 2020. The historical section above also keeps any older Census surname entries we have for Halsey (2000, 2010, 2020).
Does the Census include every surname?
No. The Census Bureau only publishes surnames that appeared at least 100 times in a given decennial Census. That means very rare surnames are excluded entirely, and a surname can appear in one Census release but disappear from a later one if it falls below the reporting threshold.
Why don't the ancestry percentages always add up to exactly 100%?
There are two main reasons: rounding and suppression. The Census Bureau rounds published values, and it may suppress very small cells to protect privacy. For 2020, the Bureau also published raw group counts rather than direct percentages, so Name Census converts those counts back into shares for comparability across census years.
What does Halsey mean?
An English habitational surname derived from a place name meaning "Hal's island" or "nook of land." The fuller origin note on this page goes into more detail.
Where does the surname data come from?
All surname statistics on Name Census are drawn from the US Census Bureau's decennial surname frequency tables. These files list every surname that appeared 100 or more times in the 2020 Census, along with a count, a per-100,000 rate, and a self-reported demographic breakdown. You can read the full explanation on our methodology page.
How does Name Census estimate living bearers?
For surnames, Name Census does not age cohorts the way it does for first names. Instead, it takes the Census Bureau's published frequency for Halsey (2.46 per 100,000) and applies that rate to the current U.S. resident population to estimate how many living Americans have the surname today.
How many people have the surname Halsey?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.